“...This season is all I have left togive. My heart can take the pounding(重击). My mind can han-dle the grind(苦差事) but my body knows it's time to say goodbye"

  “Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest players in the history of our game. Whether competing in the Fi-nals orhoisting jump shots after midnight in an empty gym,  Kobe has an unconditional love for the game.

    I join Kobe's millions of fans aroundthe world in congratulating him on an outstanding NBA career and thank him forso many thrilling memories.”

——Adam Silver, NBA commissioner(总裁)

“We're all sad. This era of Lakers basketball has been one of the most fun, exciting prosperous eras we could imagine. We're in full support of him. But it's still very sad.”

——Jeanie Buss, Lakers president

“I know his purpose is to finish outthis season and play. It's always sad when greatness decides to hang it up" "I thought he had at least another year in him.”

——Byron Scott, Lakers coach, andBryant's teammate during the 1996-97 season

¨He pushed me to be better more than any player I've faced. Kobe is the greatest competitor I have ever faced. I am glad he has found peace. I don't know if we'll see another one like him.”

——Shane Battier, of the Miami Heat

“Hard to believe @ kobe bryant isfinally going to hang it up. One of the NBA's great champions. En-joy the restof this season, my friend.”

——Scottie Pippen, retired NBA All-Star

    Tang Dynasty poets sang for about three centuries in different tones. There were many famous poets living in the Tang period such as Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai Juyi and Li Shangyin. Poems of the Tang Dynasty edited in the Qing Dynasty is a collection of more than 48,900 poem that were written by over 2,200 poets. But it didn't cover all the poems of the Tang Dynasty.

    During the Tang Dynasty, poems were recited when lovers walked under the moonlight. Poems were also recited when soldiers fought on the battlefield. People recited them in the open air or at temple fairs.

    Tang Dynasty poets wrote poems to win fame and also to develop their temperament(性情). They poured out deep feelings for their friends and criticized in injustice in the world through poems.

    In the Tang Dynasty scholars had to be poets. Their readers were not only people of high social position but also common people. Poets recited poems, women singers sang poems and other ranks of people, including old women and children, read Tang poems. This atmosphere affected foreigners who visited the country at that time. As a result, Tang poetry was introduced to some adjacent countries, like Japan and Vietnam.

    Tang poetry is a most brilliant page in the history of ancient Chinese literature. It's a miracle in the cultural history of mankind. The Tang Dynasty was a powerful empire with a vast territory. It inherited(继承)Chinese civilization that went back to ancient times, was combined with the best of other cultures and adopted the benefits of other nations in the world. Tang poetry wasn't the only spiritual wealth created by the Tang Dynasty people. Philosophy and religion, handwriting and painting and music and dance all gained new peaks of development. Tang poetry, however, was the jewel in the crown and its greatest achievement.

    Sometimes you'll hear people say that you can't love others until you love yourself. Sometimes you'll hear people say that you can't expect someone else to love you until you love yourself. Either way, you've got to love yourself first and this can be tricky. Sure we all know that we're the apple of our parents' eyes, and that our Grandmas think we're great talents and our Uncle Roberts think that we will go to the Olympics. But sometimes it's a lot harder to think such nice thoughts about ourselves. If you find that believing in yourself is a challenge. It is time you build a positive self-image and learn to love yourself.

    Self-image is your own mind's picture of yourself. This image includes the way you look, the way you act, the way you talk and the way you think. Interestingly, our self-images are often quite different from the images others hold about us. Unfortunately, most of these images are more negative than they should be. Thus changing the way you think about yourself is the key to changing your self-image and your whole world.

    The best way to defeat a passive self-image is to step back and decide to stress your successes. That is, make a list if you need to, but write down all of the great things you do every day. Don't allow doubts to occur in it.

    It very well might be that you are experiencing a negative self-image because you can't move past one flaw or weakness that you see about yourself. Well, roll up your sleeves and make a change of it as your primary task. If you think you're silly because you aren't good at math, find a tutor. If you think you're weak because you can't run a mile, get to the track and practice. If you think you're dull because you don't wear the latest trends, buy a few new clothes. But remember, just because you think it doesn't mean it's true.

    The best way to get rid of a negative self-image is to realize that your image is far from objective, and to actively convince yourself of your positive qualities. Changing the way you think and working on those you need to improve will go a long way towards promoting a positive self-image. When you can pat(拍) yourself on the back, you'll know you're well on your way. Good luck!

    Bertie knew there was something in the wind. His mother had been sad in recent days, not sick, just strangely sad. The lion had just lain down beside him, his head warm on Bertie's feet, when Father cleared his throat and began, "You'll soon be eight, Bertie. A boy needs a proper education. We've found the right place for you, a school near Salisbury in England."

    His heart filled with a terrible fear, all Bertie could think of was his white lion. "But the lion," he cried, "What about the lion?"

"I'm afraid there's something else I have to tell you," his father said. Looking across at Bertie's mother, he took a deep breath. Then he told Bertie he had met a circus owner from France, who was over in Africa looking for lions to buy. He would come to their farm in a few days.

    "No! You can't send him to a circus!" said Bertie. "People will come to see him. He'll be shut up behind bars. I promised him he never would be. And they will laugh at him. He'd rather die. Any animal would! "But as he looked across the table at them, he knew their minds were quite made up.

    Bertie felt completely betrayed (出卖). He waited until he heard his father's deep breathing next door. With his white lion at his heels, he crept (蹑手蹑脚地移动) downstairs, took down his father's rifle (步枪) and stepped out into the night. He ran and ran till his legs could run no more. As the sun came up over the grassland, he climbed to the top of a hill and sat down, his arms round the lion's neck. The time had come.

    "Be wild now", he whispered. "You've got to be wild. Don't ever come home. All my life I'll think of you. I promise I will. "He buried his head in the lion's neck. Then, Bertie climbed down the hill and walked away.

    When he looked back, the lion was still sitting there watching him; but then he stood up, yawned, stretched, and sprang down after him. Bertie shouted at him, but he kept coming. He threw sticks. He threw stones. Nothing worked.

    There was only one thing left to do. With tears filling his eyes and his mouth, he lifted the rifle to his shoulder and fired over the lion's head.

    They train four hours a day, often waking up at 4:30 or 5:00 for before-school practices. Their evenings and weekends are eaten up by twice-weekly travel games. Every day is the same; there's no break. No, these aren't Olympic athletes; they're kids.

    The benefits of sports are obvious. So, it's not surprising that, according to CNN, 41 million American children play competitive sports. But when does this become too much of a good thing?

    Seven years ago, a survey in Sporting Kid magazine found 84 percent of athletes' parents had observed belligerent behavior in other parents at games and that 80 percent had been targets of this behavior. What does this say about sports culture, and our culture as a whole? Some parents have become so crazy about their children's winning that they don't stop to think about what example they are setting.

    If athletes are constantly surrounded by adults who scream at coaches and attack sports officials, they may think that this is acceptable behavior. They'll try to win at all costs. In other words, they won't know how to accept defeat, and learn from it.

    The amount of time some athletes spend practicing can be dangerous. According to Sports Illustrated, over 3.5 million athletes younger that 15 suffered from a sports-related injury—that's nearly one in ten! Many injuries cause permanent（永久的）damage if not treated.

    So what can we do about this situation? Some argue that there is no problem, because sports has always been and will always be competitive. But did your grandparents spend hours each day practicing tennis or volleyball? No, they probably played with the neighborhood kids after school, not worrying about winning. All they wanted was to have fun. And that's what we need to change in youth sports—focus on enjoyment.

    People always think men are more skilled than women in driving. Nowadays women appear to have a positive image of themselves as safer drivers than men.

    In a survey done by insurer MetLife, 51% of women said they drive more safely. The evidence is on their side: Men are 3.4 times more likely than women to get a ticket for careless driving and 3.1 times as likely to be punished for drunk driving. “Women are on average less aggressive and more law abiding(手法的) drivers, which leads to fewer accidents,” the report says. However, not all male drivers share the same opinion. Of the men surveyed by MetLife, 39% claimed male drivers were safer. The findings did back them up on one point: automotive knowledge. The report showed that more men are familiar with current safety equipment such as electronic stability control, which helps prevent rollover accidents.

    Auto safety unavoidably matters to money. Insurance companies focus on what classes of drivers have the lowest dollar amounts of claims, and for now, that mainly includes women. In general, women pay about 9% less for auto insurance than men. A study by the website Insweb also showed that auto insurance rates are lower for women in most states. Among individual states, women get the greatest advantage in Wyoming(where they pay 20% less), South Dakota and Washington, D.C., where their insurance costs are 16% lower.

    “More than 11,9000 male drivers died in U.S. traffic accident in 2009, compared with just under 4,900 women drivers,” according to the study. “Based on miles traveled, men died at a rate of 2.5 deaths per 100 million miles traveled, vs. 1.7 deaths for women.”